


What I Like

by mirawonderfulstar



Series: Fortis Animi 'verse [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, First Time, M/M, Room of Requirement, a ''what if...'' kind of scene, okay but this is an au of the main au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-13
Updated: 2017-07-13
Packaged: 2018-12-01 17:27:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11491158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mirawonderfulstar/pseuds/mirawonderfulstar
Summary: "We circle each other in a scared bolero,imagining stratagems: postures and imposters.Cold convictions keep us solo. I ahemAnd hedge my affections. Who’ll blow the first kiss,land it like the lifeforces we feel,tickling at each wrist? It should be easyeasy to take your hand, whisper down this distancelabelled hers or his: what I like about you is..." -What I Like, Alice FultonEvery choice we make changes us. In another life, Severus Snape blows off his meeting with the Malfoys to go see whatever it was James Potter wanted to show him for his birthday.





	What I Like

**Author's Note:**

> This probably isn't going to feel very in-character or make much sense if you're not following "Birds And Arrows".

James bobbed on the balls of his feet, checking his watch. Snape had agreed to meet him on the seventh floor corridor across from the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy at precisely 7 o’clock. It was two minutes after and James had never seen Snape show up late before.

Just as he was pulling out the map to look for him, he rounded the corner, looking disheveled and anxious, his hair in an even worse state than usual and his robes sliding off his right shoulder. James resisted the urge to straighten them when he stopped in front of him. He looked very much like he had run here last minute. 

“Well? What is this thing you want to show me for my birthday?”

James grinned at his snappish tone. “See that arch in the wall there? Close your eyes and walk back and forth in front of it three times, concentrating on something you want.”

Snape threw him a slightly suspicious look but began to walk. After three passes, a door nearly as large as the one into the Entrance Hall appeared. Snape stopped pacing and opened his eyes. He looked from the door to James with an impassive face.

“Open it.” James nudged him. Snape turned back to the door.

“This had better not be a trap, Potter.”

“No trap.” James said, moving to stand beside Snape. “Open it.”

Snape reached out a hand and pushed the door open.

The room inside was easily as large as the Great Hall, maybe larger. The opposite wall held a large round window. A weak morning sun was streaming through from up ahead, casting their shadows behind them. The unusual thing about the room, however, was the contents. It looked like a church rummage sale James had once been to with his parents, multiplied by a thousand. Every inch of the floor apart from a dozen narrow aisles for walking was covered in objects. Wardrobes, bookcases, stacks of crates, several rusty old cauldrons… as far as you could see, covered in towerss of, well, junk. James felt a mix of excitement and disappointment; he had never seen this version of the room before, but he’d been hoping Snape might have thought of something a little more interesting.

Snape, however, was clearly mesmerized. He stepped forward slowly into the room, staring around at everything. He spread his hands out to his sides and touched the aisles on either side of him, running a hand up and down the old dark wood of a bookcase. James’s breath caught in his throat at the picture he made- arms spread out, a black-clad figure drenched in sunlight. Dust particles hung in the sunbeam around him, hundreds of tiny worlds in his orbit.

James exhaled harshly and Snape turned to face him. “What is this place?”

“Remus calls it the Come And Go Room. It’ll turn into whatever you need it to be.”

Snape nodded, and James found himself distracted by the way the light filtered through his hair.

“Interesting. It’s not on your map.”

“Nah, we think it’s Unplottable.”

“Why would the founders want to make a room like this Unplottable?”

James shrugged. “I suppose if you’re looking for somewhere to hide something, it helps if nobody can show anyone else where it is. I’m guessing that’s what this version of the room is for, by the way. What did you think of to call it into existence?”

Snape shrugged, still looking at the books on the shelf. “I wanted to find a book. It was referenced in one of the books on Iamblichus but the library does not seem to have it. Madam Pince said it’s been missing for centuries.”

James hummed. “Well, it’s certainly not something I would have thought of, but I like it. The Room of Hidden Things.”

Snape turned back to him. “What else can the room do?”

James held the door open. “Let’s find out.”

Snape called up a number of rooms after that. There was one that greatly resembled a muggle pub; one that was for all intents and purposes a very small bathroom; and one that looked like it might be a potions laboratory, stocked with ingredients. Snape beamed, actually _beamed_ at James.

“You should choose one.” Snape said when they stepped back out into the hall. James shook his head.

“No, it’s your birthday, remember?”

“Yes, it is, and I asked you to choose one.” Snape said, a slight smirk on his face. James laughed.

“Alright, my prince.” He said, bowing dramatically and closing his eyes to walk in front of the room. He didn’t have a specific place in mind, and was curious to see what the room would create if he just let his unformed thoughts work on it. When he opened his eyes, there was a small wooden door, blue, with a little round window set in it. He pushed it open and gestured Snape inside, then entered himself and closed the door behind him.

His eyes widened. Evidently the room had decided that what he wanted was related to the word he’d spoken, “prince”, because they were in a large bedroom, very ornately decorated in blues and reds and golds, all silk and heavy velvet. There was a great double door out onto a balcony, and looking outside, it was evident that they were very high up and overlooking an expanse of countryside. James strode over and looked out, chuckling. He recognized this place. It was a reproduction of illustrations from a storybook he’d liked as a child.

He turned back to Snape to tell him this and found him with a closed off look on his face. “How did you know my name was Prince?”

James blinked. “It is?”

“I… yes, it was my mother’s maiden name. Did Lily tell you?” he said the name, James thought, with undue venom.

James shook his head. “It was pure coincidence. I didn’t know that and Lily didn’t tell me.” Snape continued to look at him with suspicion. “I was making a joke, Snape. Because it’s your birthday, you’re the prince.”

Snape considered him for a moment, then nodded, and turned away to look around. “This is the room you wanted, then?”

James shrugged. “I actually wanted to see what would happen if I didn’t specify anything. Turns out the answer is that it’ll create something based on your associations with whatever you were thinking about. This room is from an illustration in a kid’s book I had, about a prince.”

Snape snorted. He sat gingerly down on the bed. When he sunk down into it his eyes widened and he laid back. “This is certainly more comfortable than the beds in the Slytherin dormitories.”

“Yeah?” James said, moving to stand beside one of the posts. He looked down at Snape, his hair spread out on the covers, his eyes closed, and felt another rush of whatever had come over him in the Room of Hidden Things- the same shortness of breath, the same pressure in his chest. The same thing he sometimes felt when he looked at Lily.

Oh. _Oh_.

James sat down on the bed beside Snape, leaned back into the mattress with him. “You’re right, this is more comfortable than the dorm beds.” Snape opened one eye to look at him and then closed it again.

“Since it is _my_ birthday, I believe it’s polite to let me stay in the room for the night regardless of your own desire for a more comfortable bed.” Snape said with a little smirk. James rolled his eyes.

“Whatever you want, Prince.” Snape nodded, his eyes still closed. James rolled over and propped his head up on his hand, watching Snape. His eyes traced the thin line of his lips, his hooked nose that James suspected he would never really grow into, his lank, dark hair and the circles under his eyes. James reached out and brushed a strand of hair off of his cheek, as gently as he could.

Snape’s eyes snapped open to stare at James, but he neither moved nor spoke, so James kept going. He ran his fingertips down Snape’s cheek and over his lips. Snape opened his mouth and let out a breathy gasp, his eyes never leaving James’s. James ran the pad of his thumb along Snape’s bottom lip and Snape shuddered, his breath hot on James’s hand.

“You know,” James said, flicking his eyes from Snape’s gaze to where the thumb was slowly stroking into his mouth, “I think this bed might be big enough for two people.”

Snape moaned around James’s thumb and closed his eyes, and James pulled his hand away to cup Snape’s face as he moved to kiss him. Snape arched upward into it, one hand scrabbling on James’s back, clutching, but neither pulling him closer nor pulling him away. James deepened the kiss, and Snape let out a sound which went straight to James’s cock. With one swift movement he flung a leg over Snape and straddled him, and Severus broke the kiss to gasp “Potter.”

“Snape?” James murmured, pulling back enough to see his face. Snape’s skin was flushed and his lips were parted. James’s cock twitched again and he ground his hips against Snape, whose hands continued to flutter against his back.

“What-“ Snape began, and James leaned down and began kissing his neck. “Ohhh…”

“You’re so beautiful.” James murmured against his neck. Snape let out a derisive snort. "Quiet, you are. So beautiful, Severus."

Snape moaned again as James started to suck on a spot below his ear. “Merlin, yes, Sev. Keep making those sounds.”

Snape exhaled sharply as James bit down on his skin. “J-James.”

James’s cock gave another appreciative twitch, and James felt Snape shift beneath him and oh, Merlin, he was rubbing against James and he was hard. James slid a hand down between them and pet Snape’s cock through his robes. Snape almost screamed. James laughed breathlessly and stood up, at the foot of the bed, and stared down at Snape. He looked back up at him with something like terror, and a growing embarrassment. James leaned down again to run a hand across Snape's leg in reassurance. "Are you okay? With this?"

Snape nodded, taking another shuddering breath.

“Spread your legs for me, Sev.”

“W-why?”

“So I can touch your cock under your robes.” James ghosted his hand above Snape’s cock, clearly straining against his pants. “Let me touch you.”

Snape nodded once, sharply, and spread his legs apart.

James slid his hands slowly up the length of Snape’s pants, a mental image flashing to his mind of Snape’s pale, skinny legs on a hot summer’s day, him hanging upside down in the air and going faint, and James almost recoiled, disgusted with himself. His hands clenched on Snape’s thighs and Snape whimpered softly, rocking his hips towards James.

“I want-“ Snape gasped, stifling the words as they escaped, and James leaned down to kiss him swiftly.

“I know, Sev.” He unbuttoned Snape's pants and pushed them down around his ankles, hands still under his robes. 

Snape moaned and arched into James’s touch, his cock brushing against his palm. James pulled his underpants off as well and took him in his hand.

Snape’s lips started trembling. He mouthed James’s name over and over, his eyes squeezed shut and a hand clenching and unclenching on the bed. James took his other hand and twined their fingers together.

“Fuck, you look so good right now. You’re going to come all over my hand, Sev, you're going to come for me.” Snape’s breathy moans filled James’s ears as he stroked him, harder and faster as Snape continued to fuck his hips upward into James’s grip.

James felt Snape’s cock throbbing a moment before it happened and he gasped a little, surprised by how much it turned him on to feel Snape coming. How much it turned him on to think of coming in him, oh _fuck_ yes, James wanted to come in him. He wasn't in any hurry. They had all night.

Snape let out a final gasp and slumped back on the bed, one arm flung over his eyes. _Drama queen_ , James thought with affection as he wiped his hand on Snape’s robes and climbed back on top of him, kissing along the side of his mouth and down his neck.

“James.” Snape whispered, shakily.

“Severus.” James whispered back. 

"This room... was a good birthday present." 

James took is as a sign that he had done a good job that Snape didn't have anything snarky to say.


End file.
